Eric Chelle and his stars comfortably won all three group games in Group C, scoring a tournament-leading eight goals, a feat revealing how Nigeria dominates AFCON group stage.
The eight goals they have scored during this year’s group stage are more than any Nigerian team has managed since their first appearance in 1963.
Only four times have the team even come close to that number: in 1976, 2000, 2002, and 2021, when they scored six goals.
Nigeria Dominates AFCON Group Stage
Additionally, Nigeria is the top scorer at AFCON2025 with 8 goals in their 3 matches (2.7 per game), the highest average at a single AFCON edition since Côte d’Ivoire in 2008 (also 2.7 – 16 goals in 6 matches). Soaring.
Overall, there have been 87 goals in the 36 matches at AFCON 2025 so far, the highest average (2.42 per game) at a single AFCON edition since 2010 (2.45 per game 71/29). Action.
Against Tanzania in matchday one, Alex Iwobi became just the second Nigerian player on record (since 2010) to provide two assists in a single CAF Africa Cup of Nations game, after John Obi Mikel against Mali in February 2013 (2). Eagle.
Paul Onuachu’s Important Contribution
It was Paul Onuachu’s first-ever Africa Cup of Nations goal, and more significantly, it became Nigeria’s 150th goal in the history of the competition.
Onuachu, in one of his best games for Nigeria, scored a goal, becoming the 70th Nigerian player to score in the Africa Cup of Nations, more than any other team.
The Downside Of The Stats
In 15 games under Chelle’s management, including the pre-Afcon scrimmage against Egypt and up to Tuesday night against Uganda, the team has let in 15 goals.
A goal conceded every game is a worrying statistic for any team with ambitions. What is more concerning is that seven of those goals have come after 70 minutes. Of that number, six came after 75 minutes and four after 80 minutes.
